Undefeated middleweight prospect Byron Tyson (9-0-1, 4 KOs) defeated Claudio Ortiz (6-15, 2 KOs) by 4th round disqualification on Friday night at the River Rock Casino, in Richmond, British Columbia, Canada. The fight, never competitive from the very start, was stopped in the 4th round after Ortiz, 36, landed a series of quick rabbit punches to the back of Tyson’s head. Previous to that, Ortiz had been warned for frequent fouls, such as what appeared to be intentional head butts, including being docked one point in the 3rd round for throwing an elbow near the end of the round.
The referee, Paul Fields, had been patient for most of the fight, giving mainly warnings to Ortiz rather than deducting points or disqualifying him, but after the rabbit punches in the 4th round, Fields moved in and stopped the fight at 1:26 of the 4th round. It seemed as if Ortiz was looking for a way to get out of the bout starting as early as the 2nd round, as he was badly out-classed by the speedier, more skilled Tyson, who was landing blinding fast combinations repeatedly without anything coming back from Ortiz in return. It wasn’t as if Ortiz wasn’t trying, but his lack of handspeed, along with his plodding style of fighting, made it nearly impossible for him to land anything other than an occasional shot.
As usually the case, slower fighters like Ortiz try to make up for their lack of handspeed by taking the fight to the inside, where they are often able to grapple and slug effectively. However, Tyson proved to be superior on the inside as well, hitting Ortiz with incredibly fast uppercuts and hooks, and making him not want to come in too close. Ortiz looked increasingly frustrated by the 2nd round, and when he got close to Tyson, he tried on a couple of occasions to headbutt him.
For this, Ortiz received a warning from the referee. Ortiz received a cut over his right eye in the 2nd around after an especially furious exchange of punches by Tyson. Towards the end of the round, Ortiz used a wrestling style trip to tackle Tyson to the canvas. Once again, a warning was given to Ortiz.
In the 3rd round, Ortiz again attempted to hit Tyson with a headbutt, and was given yet another warning. It got strange in the 4th round, when Ortiz suddenly dropped the canvas, as if playing around with Tyson. At first, it seemed as if he was taking a knee due to heavy fire coming in, but at the time he hadn’t been hit with anything and was back up to the ropes. He received another warning from referee Paul Fields for this. Finally, moments later, Ortiz landed a number of rabbit punches, prompting for the referee to finally stop the fight and disqualify Ortiz for his numerous fouls.